7 The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time 7

beyond Earth. His small rockets, early prototypes of the

modern Moon thrusters, achieved altitudes of up to 1 mile

(1.6 km) above the prairie.

During World War II, Goddard offered his work to

the military, but lack of interest in rocket development

led to his closing down the Roswell establishment and

participating in the war effort through a small Navy

contract for work at Annapolis, Md., on the development

of a jet-thrust booster for seaplane takeoff. Lindbergh and

the industrialist and philanthropist Harry F. Guggenheim

remained staunch advocates of the Worcester inventor

and the feasibility of space exploration.

Goddard died of throat cancer in 1945, at the threshold

of the age of jet and rocket. Years later, his work was

acknowledged by the United States government when a

$1,000,000 settlement was made for the use of his patents.

The Goddard Memorial Library at Clark University was

named in his honour.

Clarence Birdseye

(b. Dec. 9, 1886, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Oct. 7, 1956, New York)

C

larence Birdseye was an American businessman and

inventor best known for developing a process for

freezing foods in small packages suitable for retailing.

After working as a government naturalist, Birdseye

went to Labrador as a fur trader in 1912 and again in 1916.

There the people often froze food in the winter because of

the difficulty of obtaining fresh food; this solution to their

problem spurred Birdseye’s imagination.

After returning to the United States, he began to

experiment. In 1924 he helped found General Seafoods

Company, having developed two processes for freezing

fish based on a theory of quick freezing. His first patent,

describing a method for preserving piscatorial products,